In Brief: Ashanti, Jewel

ASHANTI will play Dorothy in the upcoming television movie, The Muppets' Wonderful Wizard of Oz, set to air May 20th on ABC. The movie will also star QUEEN LATIFAH and Miss Piggy . . . JEWEL will kick off her summer acoustic tour on June 15th in Denver, wrapping up July 30th in Cleveland. Before the trek, on May 3rd, the singer-songwriter will play a Candies Foundation event to raise awareness of teen pregnancy . . . JOSS STONE, NELLIE McKAY, JEM, IVY and ESTHERO will be featured on the Monster-In-Law soundtrack, which hits stores May 10th . . . Guitar legend LES PAUL is currently in the studio recording a CD with ERIC CLAPTON, STING, PETER FRAMPTON, RICHIE SAMBORA and JOSS STONE. He will also be honored on his ninetieth birthday, June 9th, with the Songwriter's Hall of Fame's Sammy Cahn Lifetime Achievement Award . . . MICK FLEETWOOD and the EAGLES OF DEATH METAL will perform at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland on April 11th without speakers or amplifiers as part of a program called "It's Hip to Hear," focusing on hearing loss prevention . . . British rockers the KAISER CHIEFS will return to the U.S. for a summer tour on May 24th in Philadelphia, wrapping up July 25th in San Francisco . . .

AVRIL LAVIGNE will kick off her summer tour on July 13th in London, Ontario, wrapping up September 3rd in Montreal . . . DAVE NAVARRO and JIM URIE will be featured panelists at Musexpo 2005, the international music and media forum held May 1-4 in Los Angeles . . . The CRYSTAL METHOD will hit the road in support of their upcoming album, Community Service II, due in stores April 5th. The trek kicks off April 7th in Sauget, Illinois, wrapping June 11th in Las Vegas . . . Former 98 DEGREES member JUSTIN JEFFRE is running for mayor in his hometown of Cincinnati, and is hoping to turn the campaign into a reality series for VH1 . . . The CHURCHILLS will release their new album, The Odds of Winning, on June 14th . . . LUDACRIS and WILL SMITH will headline an April 20th concert in Johannesburg, South Africa, celebrating the launching of MTV base, MTV's first pan-African music channel . . .